Xu Qing wasn’t stingy with spending spirit stones for his cultivation, but his life was very frugal.
Even though he had gained huge profits, he only ate three more eggs for breakfast.
He still maintained the habit of remembering the criminals updated in the wanted criminal jade slip.
After all, no matter how few spirit stones they gave, they were still spirit stones. Moreover, if he was lucky, he could obtain even more items from the other party’s storage bag.
Hence, he recognized the identity of the corpse in front of him at a glance. The other party was from a pirate organization and was worth 15 spirit stones.
Such a sum of spirit stones wasn’t much to the current Xu Qing but one could imagine that to the mute youth, it was a huge fortune.
Such wealth was actually given to him directly…
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction the mute youth had left in.
He could naturally tell that the other party had specially waited for him here to seemingly give this wanted criminal to him.
“A trap?” Xu Qing mumbled. He didn’t bother with the wanted criminal under his feet and walked into the distance. Very soon, his figure disappeared from the streets.
After he left, the wanted criminal’s corpse on the ground attracted the attention of the pedestrians in the surroundings. Most of them avoided it but there were still some disciples who saw the corpse. Their gazes flickered as they observed and were about to approach.
However, the instant they got close, a small but agile figure like a wild dog instantly rushed over from the alley at the side and arrived beside the corpse.
Squatting there, his eyes revealed cruelty as though he was protecting his food. He ferociously looked at the people in the surroundings who were about to approach.
His teeth seemed to have been ground and were different from ordinary people. He opened his mouth, revealing his sawtooth teeth, and released a ferocious aura, causing the surrounding cultivators to stop in their tracks.
The surrounding disciples swept their gazes across the traces of bite marks on the corpse and all of them chose to retreat. Only the mute youth squatted beside the corpse in a daze. His expression carried a rare hint of confusion and frustration.
Just like that, time flowed by and dusk soon arrived. The youth stayed beside the corpse the entire time. Only when the night enveloped him did he silently grab the corpse and drag it into the alley, following the corners all the way back to his residence.
The place he lived in wasn’t a magic boat but a simple and crude hut.
The monthly fee for the hut was much lower than the berth. He carefully approached but didn’t use the door. Instead, he circled around and pushed aside blocked bricks from the back wall before entering.
In the small hut, he let out a long sigh of relief and silently squatted in the corner in the darkness which allowed him to see the window and the door at the same time. After being in a daze for a long time, he lowered his head and looked at the wanted criminal’s corpse at the side. The frustrated expression on his face grew even stronger.
After a long time, he hesitated for a moment before touching the wanted criminal’s body.
It seemed like he hadn’t checked this wanted criminal’s leather pouch before. Now that he took it out, his eyes revealed surprise after he opened it and saw three spirit stones.
He immediately held them and warily looked around. After confirming that there was nothing wrong, he kept the spirit stones. He then carefully counted his savings. He had a total of 77 spirit stones.
After counting, he squatted there and his expression became dejected again. Finally, he took out a rough stone and opened his mouth to grind his teeth, making them sharper.
However, he was only at the third level of Qi Condensation, so he couldn’t sense that at this moment, outside his small hut, Xu Qing was standing there, coldly watching his every move.
Xu Qing had a vigilant and cautious personality. Even though the other party’s cultivation was inferior to his, he was still vigilant.
From what he saw during the day, there were only two possibilities. One was that the mute youth really gave the corpse as a gift, and the other was that the latter had other motives.
In this cruel chaotic world, anything could happen, so he did not accept this gift. Instead, he hid after he left and secretly observed to decide if he should attack or not.
“Is it because he felt fear toward me when we met a few days ago, so he came to curry favor?” Xu Qing glanced at the youth in the hut. He then pushed the door open and walked in.
The instant he walked in, the youth at the corner of the wall immediately bared his teeth, as though he was about to explode. However, after seeing Xu Qing clearly, his body suddenly trembled. The fear in his eyes was extremely intense and he didn’t dare to move at all.
“What did you see?” Xu Qing threw a jade slip over and stood at the door as he slowly spoke.
The moonlight landed on his body, reflecting his shadow into the house, almost touching the little mute.
The little mute pressed his body tightly against the wall and took the jade slip.
The captain had asked him about the same thing, but his attitude told that he would not say anything even if he died. At this moment, he didn’t hesitate at all. He immediately imprinted what he wanted to say and cautiously handed it to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing took the jade slip. After his spirit energy gushed in and scanned it, his expression suddenly changed.
A cold glint appeared in his eyes. After casting a meaningful glance at the little mute, he took out eight spirit stones and tossed them over before leaving.
77 plus 15 plus 8 equaled 100. This was the amount that was needed to exchange for a magic boat.
Even as he walked far away, Xu Qing still grabbed the jade slip tightly. As he returned to his berth, the instant he stepped onto the magic boat, his right hand suddenly clenched and the jade slip turned into ashes.
After that, he expressionlessly walked into the cabin and closed his eyes to start cultivating.
The night passed.
The next morning, Xu Qing went to Zhang San’s place with his usual expression and sent the array crossbow he had obtained from the Diamond Sect over. Under Zhang San’s refinement, this array crossbow was placed on his magic boat and became one of his trump cards second only to divine attack.